


Marry Me Tomorrow, Then

by Survivingtheplague



Category: Gentleman Jack (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, anne is an emt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-08-19 14:30:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20211310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Survivingtheplague/pseuds/Survivingtheplague
Summary: Ann Walker just opened her coffee shop the year prior and it leads her to meet a woman she eventually falls head over heels for, Anne Lister.





	1. The Morning

**Author's Note:**

> i am so in love with the ann(e)s that i just had to contribute to the fandom. let me know what you think!
> 
> please check out my tumblr if that's your thing! let's be friends. send me nice things and some constructive criticism too!
> 
> lustingafterlister on tumblr

Ann walks down the sidewalk in the crisp morning air, enjoying the silence. She stops in front of her destination and takes a small moment to appreciate her achievement. The sign above her reads "Crow Nest Coffee" in elegant yet simple font.  
  
She opened her business just a year ago and while it has been a hard journey, she won't allow herself to feel entirely proud of it. After all, it was her late parents' money that paid for it.  
  
Her thoughts are interrupted by the crunch of tires on the road and turns around. 

The culprit was strolling by real slow in a white, hunky van.

_An ambulance?_ She turned the key to open her storefront, neck still curiously craned towards the vehicle. 

She looked at the ambulance through the glass door as she put her keys back in her pocket, noticing that it was turning around. Thinking nothing of it, as unusual as it was, she proceeded to walk into the backroom to begin her day.

The doors open and she hears the sound of people talking.

_Shit._ She forgot to lock the door, distracted by the atypical presence of an ambulance in the shopping center that morning.__

_ __ _

__

"Hey sorry, guys, I'm not open- " She stopped. Two EMTs were standing in her dark cafe, illuminated by the lights from the backroom.

"It's a little dark in here, don't you think?" The woman was tall, fit and very good looking. She smiled a warm, soft smile which suggested no trace of ill manner.

The man she was with spoke up, as if to make up for his partners' brashness.

"Nothing is open right now and we are in desperate need of coffee." he said apologetically, "We saw you come in and wondered if you could open for us a little early?"

Ann looks at them for a couple seconds, thinking about kicking them out. She doesnt. Instead, her eyes meet with the other woman's and her heart starts beating faster. She smiles as she reaches for her apron and puts it on.

"Of course I can. What do you need?" she beams.

"Two black coffees. Thanks again um, sorry, I didn't catch your name. I'm Anne and this here is Sam." The woman in uniform gestures to the man beside her. 

"My name is Ann too! How weird." she exclaims. The blonde wipes her hands on the apron and shakes their hands. When the two women shake hands, they make eye contact with each other and they stare into each other's eyes for a second too long. The tension in the air grows thicker with every second. Sam notices and smirks.

"Hey, I gotta make a call. I'll be waiting in the rig. Two sugars, please." Anne looks at him, slightly confused. He gives her a knowing look and winks discreetly. He then turns to Ann and waves goodbye, "Thank you again! Have a great morning and it was nice meeting you!" 

Ann shoots him a small wave while giving Anne a confused look.

"Don't mind him. He's a dingus." The brunette rolls her eyes.

Ann giggled.

"This is a cute place," Anne says, looking around the empty cafe, "I've never heard of it before. Must be fairly new, yea?"

"Yep! Opened by yours truly a year ago." she says gesturing with her open palms towards the ceiling. 

"Oh my god. Wow. You did all this?! Congratulations!" Anne said with heartfelt sincerity. "What a feat! Ambition is a rarity these days, but I can see you've got a lot of it."

This made Ann strangely emotional. She's never had someone care enough about her or her dreams. 

"That means a lot more than you know." She spoke softly. "It's hard work, definitely, but I love it."

"You _should_ be proud!" Anne stepped closer to the counter. She reached for Ann's hand and held it with both of hers. "Opening a business is tough and only the strong willed succeed."__

_ __ _

_ __ _

Ann was taken aback in the most wonderful way. She felt validated and cared for. Her chest felt like it was turning into a gooey mess and her eyes were fixed on the brunettes slender face. She didn't know how to react.

She meekly shrugged and turned to grab the warm coffee cups.

"Here's your coffee. The sugar is on the counter. Help yourself." She slides over the two coffee cups and leans on the counter, "I've never seen you around. Why is that?"

"I just transferred back but I was raised here. I was getting tired of my last city anyway. I needed a change."

"Well, it's a good thing you're back, then. Sometimes all we need is a fresh start." Ann says with an optimistic tone.

Anne waits a beat before replying, taking in the sight before her. She notices the way Ann's lips curve when she smiles. The way her blonde curls bounce. She wonders what her hair would feel like in between her fingers and- 

She blinks her thoughts away before she riles herself up too much.

_Fresh start indeed._  
  
Anne looks at the smiling blonde and she can already picture their entire future together. This is just what she needs. Ann is just what she needs. Maybe this was fate. Anne had left all her problems behind but she still felt the pain of heartbreak and that wasn't easy to mend.  
  
  
_Maybe Ann can be my fresh start…_

_ _ __ _ _

_ _ __ _ _

_ _ __ _ _

_ _ __ _ _

With an innocent smile, she takes the cups.

"You are exactly right. That is just what I plan on doing. Thank you, Ann. I'm sorry about the inconvenience. What do I owe you for these?" She lifts the coffee cups.

"On the house." she says, tucking her hair behind her ear, "And no worries. It wasn't a problem at all. My pleasure."

"Oh, you really didn't have to do that. Thank you so much!" she says genuinely. "I hope you have a beautiful day. You very much deserve it." 

Anne starts to head towards the door.

"Oh wait! I forgot to give you napkins. Hold on." 

She runs to the back for a few seconds before coming back out and handing her a couple napkins. She tucks them under one of the cups in her hands. The blonde brushed Anne's hand slowly and she wondered for a second if she perhaps did it on purpose.

"Thanks again. You're too kind. I have to go. Please take care." she gives her one last warm smile before walking off.

Ann waves goodbye through the glass door.

Opening the door to the passenger side, she sits and hands Sam his coffee.

"How'd it go in there, Lister?" he asked playfully.

"Don't think for a second I didn't see what you did." she nudges him. "Next time don't make it so obvious, you big butt."

They both laugh. She takes a sip of her coffee and notices the napkins on her lap. There's writing on the top one.

Sam notices and bursts out in excitement. "But it worked, did it not?! You got her phone number! Lister!" 

Feigning annoyance at Washington's sudden rowdiness, she rolls her eyes but smiles from ear to ear.

"Really, Sam. You should act more professional."

They drive off a giggling mess.


	2. The Coffee Shop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Lister sisters talk about Anne's new crush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love marian's big idiot energy so much. sorry if it feels a little quick towards the end, i was thinking about it too much and it was stressing me out so i had to just post it to end the cycle of perfectionism. anyway thank you guys for reading i appreciate all of you x
> 
> lustingafterlister on tumblr

Sitting on the couch, with her feet on the coffee table, Anne writes her daily journal entries in her laptop. There's some documentary on the TV about Mount Everest that she had watched a couple times before, but never gets tired of.

Her hair is braided sloppily and thrown over her shoulder. She's in her comfy clothes; blue, silk pajama bottoms with a plain, white shirt that is just slightly too big. She looks up every once in a while when the narrator talks about the gruesome details of the climbers' journeys.

Anne's eyes dart back to her laptop screen and she begins writing again.

_Tuesday 10 August 2019 63°F Our last call was one we get often. At around 3pm, we were called to a park where an old, homeless man was sleeping on a bench. We woke him up and made sure he was fine. He yelled at us and went back to sleep. Probably drunk. We left. Thought about the girl Ann from the coffee shop all day. I found myself wondering if she gave me her number out of wanting friendship or more. Will have to wait and see. I do feel alone most of the time, aside from being with my Aunt, so maybe even friendship wouldn't be a bad idea.___

Just as she was finishing that last sentence, there's a knock at the door. Closing the laptop, she grabs her phone and calls a contact in her phone titled **Marian**. 

"Is that you outside?" Anne yells as soon as it stops ringing. 

** **** **

****

"Yes! Open the door." Marian answers, annoyed.

"Mm, no. Open it yourself, you have a key."

"Anne! I didn't bring my key, please open the door!" Anne can hear Marian's shrill voice through the door.

"That is irresponsible. What if I wasn't home? You know Aunt can't stroll down the stairs to open the door for you, Marian." Anne clicks her tongue. "Just crawl through the window."

Her sister gasps, "How can you ask me to do that?! In front of the neighbors?!"

Anne smiles mischievously as she slowly walks up to the door, opens it and peeks out. She sees Marian trying to open the window with her phone cradled in between her ear and her shoulder. She stares at her younger sister for a few seconds, watching her struggle and then bursts out in loud, obnoxious laughter.

"Marian, I was only joking!" she wheezes in between her howling laughter. "You were really going to squeeze through there?!"

The younger sister hangs up the phone and attempts to straighten her skirt.

"Well, I can never tell when you're joking." Marian huffs. "You should really learn to act your age."

Anne is still laughing as she follows her sister inside. Marian sets her things down and goes upstairs to check on her Aunt.

"They're napping. Don't bother them." Anne calls out.

Several seconds later, Marian comes back down to sit with her on the opposite end of the couch, legs spread on Anne's. Anne pushes her legs down habitually, muttering an insult at her sister without looking up from her laptop. They bicker like this often but it's never bitter. Siblings have their own language, and they certainly know the exact ways to annoy one another.

"How's Aunt?" Marian asks.

"She's okay for now. I relieved the nurse when I got home. No real progress, though. Her condition isn't getting worse, but it's not improving either." Anne makes sure to sound as unemotional as possible to hide the worry from Marian.

"That doesn't sound promising."

"Well, it's better than the other outcomes, isn't it?" she says rather sternly. Anne notices the drop in Marian's face and quickly flashes her a reassuring smile. "It's alright. She'll be alright, Marian. No need to worry, okay?"

Marian can tell she's putting up a front, but she knows how Anne loves to feel like the leader in the family, so she goes along with it and smiles back. "She'll be okay." she says.

They sit on the couch for a while, scrolling through their phones while the Mt. Everest documentary plays in the background. That's when Marian suddenly breaks the silence.

"So, John is-"

"Who?" Anne raised her eyebrows.

"My boyfriend." Marian replies, matter-of-factly. "He's coming over to have dinner and we would really like you to be here."

"You have a boyfriend?" Anne raised her eyebrows even further, mouth open. "And you didn't care to mention this before?"

"We only just started dating officially. Please try to come. It's next week and it'll mean a lot to me."

Anne swallows whatever joke she had and instead agrees. "Of course. Only for my annoying sister."

She smirks and it turns into laughter. Marian grabs a throw pillow from underneath her and throws it at Anne's face. This only makes her laugh out loud even more.

"Okay, I'm sorry but he did not sound like good company!" Anne throws the pillow back.

"Ugh, you're so annoying!" Marian starts to get up when Anne grabs her arm.

"No! Okay, seriously." She says, trying to compose herself. "I have a serious question."

Marian looks at her with a confused expression.

"Say a guy gave you his number. When would be the appropriate time to text him back?" Anne asks in a hushed tone, as if the furniture was going to overhear and judge her.

Her sister narrows her eyes at Anne, trying to figure out the motive behind her question. Anne can see the cogs turning in her sisters' mind, practically catching fire with how hard she's thinking about it.

"Marian-" Anne interrupts.

"You have a crush!" she yells enthusiastically, tapping Anne's shoulder.

"Yes." she replies before Marian can even finish her sentence. "Don't make it a big deal, though. I just met her."

"She gave you her phone number, so obviously she likes you too! Anne!" Marian is animated.

Anne knows how much her family wants her to settle down with someone. They don't say it outright, but she knows they talk about it. Her Aunt has brought it up many times before. They know that ever since her last break-up, she hasn't been the same and they respect her healing period.

The thing about Anne is that she feels too much and the women she dates, or rather the women she has one night stands with, are not long term relationship material. Subconscious or not, it's her protective mechanism against heartbreak.

Marian can sense Anne's hesitance and looks at her with a look of compassion. She nudges her with her foot.

"Anne…it'll be okay. Don't think too hard about it. You're still young. Just have fun. You'll be okay."

"I hope so." she blinks a few times and smiles. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"No, I'm starving."

"I know just the place."

~

The shop wasn't too crowded, but there was a few patreons taking up their tables with laptops. In the light, Anne could see the interior. The walls were a soft, welcoming yellow, accented with a few framed portraits of coffee mugs most likely painted by a local artist. There were a couple house plants hung in the corners. The ambience was warm and cozy. They walked up to the counter and looked at the menu. After a couple minutes, they ordered.

"Good morning, James." Anne greeted the cashier, eyes glancing down at his name tag. "I'll have a ham and cheese croissant with a dark roast coffee. She'll have the same."

Marian furrowed her brow. "No I will not. I'll have a blueberry oatmeal and a vanilla latte, please."

The sisters rolled their eyes at each other. Anne paid and as soon as they got their order, they found a table. As they found their table, Marian somehow managed to spill about half the contents of her cup on the table top. "Really?" Anne scolded. The older sister begrudgingly got up to get more napkins.

"Hey!" said a familiar voice from behind the counter. "You came back." Ann beamed.

"I did and I brought my clumsy sister, too." she said while pointing to her table. "Have the mop ready to go, just in case she decides to spill the rest of her coffee."

They shared a laugh. Ann grabbed a rag and walked around the counter towards Marian.

"Looks like you need a refill. I'll get James to bring you another." she said, wiping the table clean. "I'm Ann, by the way. I'm a friend of your sisters." She shook Marian's hand.

Marian looked over at Anne curiously. Anne simply took a drink of her coffee and narrowed her eyes. Marian doesn't seem to take the hint to not embarrass her, or maybe being the younger sister, doesn't care.

"Oh, I've heard a lot about you! Someone has a big crush-" she teases. "Ow!" Anne kicked her shin under the table, not even trying to hide it. Marian closes her eyes in pain. Anne smiles, trying to hide her blushing.

"Sorry about her, can I speak with you for a moment?" Anne stands up and glares at her sister who is rubbing her sore shin. "Away from this one?"

They walk over to an unoccupied table in the corner of the room and sit across from each other.

"Listen, I know I seem like a bit of an ass for not calling or texting you," Anne tried to apologize, "But I promise I was trying to gain the courage to do that just this morning."

Ann frowned. "I didn't think that at all." She tried not to laugh at the thought of the stern looking woman in front of her being nervous about sending a text message. Tried being the key word because she let out a soft chuckle. "In fact, I think it's cute that you were anxious about it."

_Cute?_ Anne thought. In her head she associated the word with pink unicorns and lollipops. She most definitely was not cute. She considered herself a headstrong and intense person in all regards but somehow the thought of Ann calling her cute made her heart palpitate.__

"Listen, since you never got a hold of me, I wanted to ask you something. I'm having a birthday party here at the shop for my best friend and I'd love for you to come. It's next week. What do you think?" She paused. "I know it's a bit short notice, and you don't have any obligation to attend-"

Anne reached over and placed her hand on top of Ann's.

"I'd love to."

**Author's Note:**

> i barely made edits. i'm sorry /yikes/ lemme know if you wanna proof read for me cus a butch needs it
> 
> leave some kudos and maybe a comment? i appreciate you all so much for reading x


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